Daniel Adkins wrote:AllNewSuperRobot wrote:AlphaBass wrote:AllNewSuperRobot wrote:And no, Bumblebee had no narrative reason to come back. His story is over. He died. That's it.
This edit is quite apt.
Isn't Bumblebee's movie coming out at the end of the year, around when the IDW-verse is supposed to end? That's about as good a reason as any to bring him back.
Exactly. A mandated reason, not a legitimate one.
Bumblebee’s resurrection was planned
four years ago. He was always going to come back becuase he’s a tent pole character of the franchise. Whether you think he’s being “forced” or whatever (which he isn’t, he’s always been a popular character) doesn’t really matter becuase the fact is he’s one of the most important characters in Transformers fiction, right up there with Optimus, Megatron and Starscream. And you can’t simply replace him with any character like Goldbug or Centurion or whoever becuase regardless of appearance, they aren’t the same character as Bumblebee.
To anyone that has read comics for a long enough time, the thought of his "resurrection" was redundant because although gravely wounded you never saw his body so he was never dead in the first place.
The anecdote I mentioned didn't reflect my thoughts in the slightest. I couldn't care less about Bumblebee, or Prime for that matter. Other than two exceptions, I don't like any of the Autobots by default. The cynicism I mentioned was from other fans of the series.
Let's draw a line here,
Within IDWverse, you can clearly see how his prominence has been forced. The subtle character introduction from Infiltration to leadership in RiD. If not for the
success of Bayformers, which used BB as its poster child, I doubt he would have gained such a featured role in this continuity. His previous niche was already taken.
Ratchet took his place as the gateway character, Prowl took his place in a meaningful relationship with Spike Witwicky etc etc
The fact is, prior to the movies, Bumblebee was not that important. He was entirely absent from the Beast Era, Car Robots, The Unicron Trilogy. From Sunbow to Animated. To that end he wasn't on the same level of popularity as Prime, Megatron or Starscream, that have never been away from the franchise in any media.
As I said above, the only reason they are "resurrecting" him now, is because a Movie is coming out. Otherwise, the continuity is ending, so there would be no point in reintroducing him only for him to die again with the rest by the end of Unicron's story.